HOPEWELL TWP. — After a so-so year on the excitement level, it has returned with a vengeance for the Pennington School boys soccer team this year.

The second-seeded Red Raiders held off a spirited third-seeded Steinert side to take a 2-1 victory in Tuesday night’s Mercer County Tournament semifinals at Hopewell Valley Central High School.

Pennington (11-4) will meet upstart West Windsor-Plainsboro South, a 1-0 winner over Hopewell, in Thursday’s final at The College of New Jersey. The Raiders will attempt to become the first boys soccer team to win four straight MCT titles.

“This means history,” outside back Timmy Coe said. “I would say, honestly, the buzz wasn’t the same last year. This year the buzz is back, since no school has ever won four in a row.”

Steinert (11-5) did its best to keep it that way. After falling behind 2-0 early in the second half, the Spartans converted a penalty kick from Aidan Klein with 34:25 remaining to make it a dog fight.

The Red Raiders responded with a flurry of shots, some going just wide and others that were gobbled up by goalie Trevor Giordano, who played a stellar game with 14 saves. The Spartans finally got the ball into Pennington’s end and took a couple easy shots on goal that were saved by Rafael Ponce De Leon.

In the frantic final minutes, Steinert blasted two shots inside the box that Pennington’s defenders blocked to avoid any issues.

“Crazy, no other way to say it,” Coe said of the Raiders toughest challenge in the MCT. “It was hard fought, definitely. A lot of possession by our team, they made a late push at the end that we had to withstand. A couple mistakes in the back with possession but other than that I thought our forwards played a great game. Our center mids Jack (Borden) and Ian (Albuquerque) are two of the best in the country, I would say.”

Pennington, whose four losses are to teams with a combined 40-12-7 record, dominated much of the first half with adept ball handling and accurate passes. Babacar Niang broke a scoreless tie in the 13th minute when he dribbled through traffic and drilled one into the lower right corner.

The Raiders looked poised to put it away when Albuquerque sent one to left flank that Ousmane Gueye sent into the far corner to make it 2-0. Steinert had two near misses when Adrian Strawinski’s direct kick went just over the cross bar; and a header right in front of the goal was blocked by a Pennington defender.

Other than that, the Raiders put on a clinic of possession soccer, and Coe just sat back and enjoyed the show ... until it was time to go to work, that is.

“I have the best position,” he said. “I get to see it all. I get to see all the magic happen, all the dynamic runs, the ball movement, the possession, the great shots. I get to witness it all but it’s most important I stay with my job and not let the moment get the most of me. They got a goal on us today which wasn’t too good.”

Pennington would have had a few more goals were it not for two diving saves and one leaping grab by Giordano, who didn’t start playing goalie until his freshman year. The game was much more competitive than the 2016 semifinal, when Pennington took a 3-0 win.

“From two years ago, they’re definitely a little more dynamic,” Coe said. “They have more talent on the ball. Their forward (Justin Brunow) was a good player. Other than that, not too different than the average team we’ve seen all year. We know every team is gonna give their best against us.”

Which just makes that buzz get a little more intense during the quest for history.